Canadian Political Science Programs- Fall 2017 cycle

[somuchtoread]

Haven't seen a thread for the 2017 cycle so I thought I'd initiate one here. Anyone in the process of applying?

I have just submitted my application to UBC and am currently working on ones for U of T, McGill, York, Calgary, Alberta and possibly Queens/Victoria. 

Here are my stats:

• Undergrad GPA: 3.6/4.33 (3.88 in last 2 years)
• MA (International Studies- Course Based): 3.55/4.33 
• MA (Political Science): 4.0/4.0
• Scholarships: 5 in second MA (including SSHRC); 2 in first MA and and 3 in BA
• Other Awards: Rhodes Finalist, Dean's Honor Call, Best Poster Presentation Award
• Publications: Three published, one of them is single author; 3 submitted
• Conferences: Presented at two academic conferences
• Research: Worked as an RA in 2 semesters
• Enthusiastic reference letters

I would appreciate any comments/evaluations? UBC is my first choice but the profs that work in my area aren't taking on PhD students so I'm not sure about what my chances are. Of course would be happy to have an offer from Toronto and McGill as well. 

Where is everyone else applying to?

 

[boruchan93]

Oh so it begins! I am applying to U of T, York, Carleton, Alberta, McMaster, Victoria, Western Ontario and Queen's. I might apply to Balsillie School for a PhD in Global Governance too. I am applying as an international student. Did my bachelor's and master's as an international student at a top Japanese research university. I am not sure though. I need funding desperately so I don't know if I will make it to any of these schools. My top choices would be York, Carleton, McMaster and Toronto. I got accepted to these schools for MA but there was no funding so I had to stay in Japan. Now I am trying for PhD but it is another level of competition. I shared my profile for evaluation in this forum before but I'll just put it here too:

Undergrad/Grad: Top Research University in Japan (I am an international student here)

Degrees: LLB in Law and Political Science (Graduation thesis won best thesis award of faculty), LLM in Law and Political Science (most universities in Japan teach law and politics together so this is not uncommon)

Undergrad/Grad GPA: 3.94 out of 4.30. I don't know my major specific GPA but it is probably higher than this; Grad GPA is not assessed like my undergraduate but I received top marks from all classes except for one. I'd guess 3.80 out of 4.00. 

TOEFL iBT: 102 out of 120 (R:25, W: 25, L: 26, S: 26)

Experience: TA for two Political Science related classes; internship at a leading think tank in Turkey for 2 months in which I began co-authoring an article, did fieldwork for my Master's thesis and other admin stuff; 2 internships at 2 large corporate law firms in Turkey and Japan during my undergrad years

SOP: I think it is good. I outlined my research within 500 word limit and related it to my previous studies and showed how it fits to faculty's research interests.

Writing sample: I am worried about this one. I haven't started writing my Master's thesis because we have to do this Joint Research in which we design a project, conduct a research and present the findings at a conference. My papers written in other classes were not really related to my proposed study. So I decided to submit parts of my undergraduate thesis which was well structured and won the faculty prize for best thesis. It is very related to my proposed research so I thought it would be better than submitting something unrelated and not as good.

Recommendations: 1 Canadian professor who is well known in the area of political economy and published extensively on the subject matter (1 single authored, 3 edited books this year). He was my undergraduate supervisor and my aforementioned TA experiences were under him. We will start working on a commentary to be submitted a journal.

1 from a Turkish professor teaching in Australia whom visited my faculty for a visiting professor job in my final year as an undergrad. I took 2 classes and aced them both. She read my thesis and aware of my research. She has a lot publications in her own research area and is quite well known.

1 from a Turkish professor that I worked with during my internship whom I began co-authoring a paper with. He knows my research abilities.

1 Japanese professor who is my current supervisor. She is aware of my research and published internationally. 

Publication: One piece in Japanese published for a business journal during one of my law firm internships

Scholarships: Merit based scholarship throughout my undergraduate years which basically covered my tuition fees. Full funding of approximately 24,000 USD for my Master's with 5000 USD of travel grants for internship and research. It was renewed for my second year.

Presentations: None  I got accepted to two but did not receive the invitation letters on time thus I was denied for visa (one was in Canada, the other was in US). I will present my Joint Research in a conference; however the date it is not decided yet.

Field: Political Science with a focus in comparative politics and global political economy. I am basically combining my knowledge of law and politics to look at issues related to neoliberalism and new constitutionalism. I will use Turkey as my paradigm case for analysis.

Languages: Turkish (Native), English (Fluent), Japanese (Advanced)

Edited December 26, 2016 by boruchan93

[bubbles1]

I'm applying to Toronto and McGill, as well as some universities in my home country, for an MA in comparative politics. I'm wondering if I should add more applications...

[amripley]

I have applied to UBC, McGill, and U of T (my undergraduate Alma Mater) for IR/IPE. I might fire off an application to the Basillie School at UW before their deadline on Sunday. Good luck everyone!

[bubbles1]

Does anyone know when we can expect to hear back from Canadian universities?

[boruchan93]

37 minutes ago, PuraVida1 said:

Does anyone know when we can expect to hear back from Canadian universities?

Looking at the previous results, probably some time between late February to early April depending on the school.

[Volition]

^{Has anyone applied to the PhD program for the University of Ottawa? I  really want to apply, but it seems that they want the applicants to have their research projects all figured out (which is not the case for the majority of the other applications that I have encountered!).}

[boruchan93]

On 1/26/2017 at 0:03 PM, Volition said:

^{Has anyone applied to the PhD program for the University of Ottawa? I  really want to apply, but it seems that they want the applicants to have their research projects all figured out (which is not the case for the majority of the other applications that I have encountered!).}

I was going to but they have a very European approach. As you mentioned, they require a whole research planned out. I also realized they need a certain level of French language proficiency as students are required to take at least 2 classes in French. I learned French in high school but I completely lost my proficiency so I gave up

[deactivatedaccount]

On 2017-01-25 at 7:03 PM, Volition said:

^{Has anyone applied to the PhD program for the University of Ottawa? I  really want to apply, but it seems that they want the applicants to have their research projects all figured out (which is not the case for the majority of the other applications that I have encountered!).}

 

On 2017-01-27 at 0:53 AM, boruchan93 said:

I was going to but they have a very European approach. As you mentioned, they require a whole research planned out. I also realized they need a certain level of French language proficiency as students are required to take at least 2 classes in French. I learned French in high school but I completely lost my proficiency so I gave up

 

Hi Volition,

You're right, they do require a lot in their application. I also applied, but had already written a proposal for SSHRC and a number of other things and so I was able to copy and paste a lot, but it does require a certain degree of work that other schools don't seem to have. I'm not sure how developed they expect the research proposals to be--I had a colleague who applied and wrote very little for one of the sections, and they accepted him conditionally that he elaborate upon that section. It could work in your favour though--I think that a number of potential applicants may be thrown off by the research proposal aspect which narrows the applicant pool off the bat. If you have faculty members that you are interested in working with I would definitely say that the effort is worth it.

and boruchan93 is also right, at the graduate level the department is French, meaning that students completing the program in English are required to take one course in French, and things like department meetings are held in French. I did my Bachelor's at uOttawa and I would say that a genuine grasp of French is definitely required, if your knowledge of French is distant I think it would be difficult, though certainly not impossible, to do well. The upside being that they do have very strong faculty if you do know French, particularly in Political Thought.

[seaofbooks]

I've applied to UBC and U of C. I've attended both schools before, and I can say that both are excellent choices. I will say that for U of C, the faculty are very warm and welcoming -- always willing to go the extra mile for their students. At UBC, it can be a bit easier to get lost in the mass of people. 

[magicsana]

Applied to York. Did my BA there and know a few profs pretty well. 

[boruchan93]

40 minutes ago, magicsana said:

Applied to York. Did my BA there and know a few profs pretty well. 

I applied to York too as my first choice. Faculty there is great. I am especially interested in Professor Gill's work on "disciplinary neoliberalism" and "new constitutionalism", which constitutes a part of my theoretical framework of my Master's thesis. It would be a dream come true if I get an offer from there to be honest.

[somuchtoread]

Just got an acceptance from York. Waiting to hear back from the rest. 

[boruchan93]

1 hour ago, Pahi said:

Just got an acceptance from York. Waiting to hear back from the rest. 

Congratulations! Can you tell us about your subfield and how did you receive the acceptance?

[somuchtoread]

3 minutes ago, boruchan93 said:

Congratulations! Can you tell us about your subfield and how did you receive the acceptance?

My topic bridges IR/Comparative. I just received an approval e-mail from the program director yesterday. Official offer to follow. I'm guessing they are only just beginning to roll out offers so hopefully you'll hear in the next few days as well. Good luck!

[boruchan93]

3 minutes ago, Pahi said:

My topic bridges IR/Comparative. I just received an approval e-mail from the program director yesterday. Official offer to follow. I'm guessing they are only just beginning to roll out offers so hopefully you'll hear in the next few days as well. Good luck!

Hopefully! I am basically doing IR/Comparative too. I feel like my International status is making the process longer. So stressed out!

[somuchtoread]

Offers may depend on funding sometimes but don't worry. Canadian universities routinely admit international students and you haven an impressive profile. For what its worth, York isn't my first choice so if I get into my top 3, I will be giving up this offer. 

[boruchan93]

Good luck with the rest of your applicatons @Pahi. Let's keep this topic updated

[magicsana]

7 hours ago, Pahi said:

Just got an acceptance from York. Waiting to hear back from the rest. 

Congrats!! My status currently says "no decision yet".

[boruchan93]

Just received my rejection from York. I just checked the portal and it said "reviewed - unsuccessful". I am really devastated about this. I guess I'd been dreaming for too long. 

[somuchtoread]

5 hours ago, boruchan93 said:

Just received my rejection from York. I just checked the portal and it said "reviewed - unsuccessful". I am really devastated about this. I guess I'd been dreaming for too long. 

Really sorry to hear that. Receiving bad news is always disheartening but keep your hopes up. You have applied to some other excellent universities so I hope you hear positively from them soon. Keep us updated  

[somuchtoread]

On 1/10/2017 at 4:37 AM, PuraVida1 said:

I'm applying to Toronto and McGill, as well as some universities in my home country, for an MA in comparative politics. I'm wondering if I should add more applications...

I heard that UBC extended their deadline for some programs..so you could consider that. 

[bubbles1]

1 hour ago, Pahi said:

I heard that UBC extended their deadline for some programs..so you could consider that. 

Their deadline for the MA in Political Science was the first week of January unfortunately.

In other news, has anyone heard from other schools yet? I'm surprised there aren't more of us participating on the Canadian thread this year. 

[deactivatedaccount]

I suspect that Canadian acceptances generally go out a bit later than American acceptances, and so it may get more participation a bit later on. I may be generalizing though, the only Canadian school I applied to was Ottawa, and the deadline for domestic students was only a week ago, and so I won't expect to be hearing from them for a while.

[somuchtoread]

On 2/9/2017 at 0:06 PM, PuraVida1 said:

Their deadline for the MA in Political Science was the first week of January unfortunately.

In other news, has anyone heard from other schools yet? I'm surprised there aren't more of us participating on the Canadian thread this year. 

Just heard from York. No news from the other schools although I heard that McGill has started sending out offer. The wait is torturous :S